


Complicated Unrequited Love

by artemis1860



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 07:16:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15836394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemis1860/pseuds/artemis1860
Summary: Severus Snape has finally received his letter for Hogwart's and as excited as he was, he was to the moon to discover his best friend Lily Evans would be going as well. Life was looking up, the world at their fingertips with hope and magic in their hearts. It felt as if nothing could go awry.





	Complicated Unrequited Love

** Chapter One **

**The Best of News**

 

The day began as it always did.  The sun was barely rising, peeking in through the window as it stung his eyes and the boy practically threw himself out of bed.  Yet for the harsh movement his feet didn’t make a sound as bare toes touched the carpet.  He knew better than to make noise.  He pulled on the same dark trousers and long-sleeved shirt as the day before without even checking his closet.  He knew there was nothing clean in it, dirty clothes were hung up as if clean only to keep his father’s anger at bay.  He’d never let Severus have the end of it if he left things out on the floor.  The boy himself pushed his hair behind his ears and tried not to grimace at the feel of it before he set to picking up everything he could find out of place in his room, even a single hair would be enough to incur wrath and he hoped to avoid it today.  When his room had been swept and dusted he left it for the stairs and tiptoed his way down into the living room.  Sure enough there was his father, Tobias Snape, laying in his easy chair asleep.  Severus knew better than to wake him but could also clearly see a mess in the room.  As quietly as the boy of only eleven years could manage, he began picking things up just as he had in his room.  He dusted the room, careful not to fling dust that he might avoid waking his father by a sneeze.  Such things never ended well, and he was happy when he was able to finish his work in the room without incident.

He paused as he made his way into the kitchen, the great debate going in his mind already.  Did he make breakfast?  It would certainly wake up his father and mother both, but that could be a good thing.  They would be happy right?  Severus racked his brain, trying to remember if they had mentioned what was going on today.  If he woke them too early, even for breakfast, that could mean a few new welts.  But if they had something planned early and he didn’t wake them that would also go ill for him.  The boy shook his head and sighed quietly as he found he couldn’t remember what they had told him about the day.  He was lost, but a glance out the window and a fluttering of feathers caught his eye and he felt his breath catch in his throat.  He moved to the back door and slid it open, his bare toes feeling the damp dew on the grass as he stepped across it towards the back fence.  On that fence was a medium sized brown owl with eyes glinting as it stared at him and a letter clasped in its beak.  “Uh… hi?”  His voice was almost shaking he was embarrassed to find.  The owl tilted his head as if to regard him but made no move as Severus approached.  He reached out a pale and shaking hand but the moment his fingers touched the letter, the owl released it and let out a sound before taking off in a rush of wings and feathers.  Severus stared down at the letter in his hand, that elegant green ink and the emblem on the back of it.  “Hogwart’s.” he whispered, a smile crossing his lips.  But that smile soon disappeared as he felt a smack to the back of his head that sent him forward into the fence.  For a moment Severus’ mind had been on magic, sweets, books, and all things he loved but that smack brought back the harsh reality of the paint-chipped fence and the industrial smell of the area in which his home was built.  

He spun and found Tobias Snape looming over him.  It seemed that when little Severus had gone out of the sliding door he had opened it just hard enough to rouse the man from his sleep and he was far less than happy.  His face was twisted into a mask of anger.  “You just had to wake me up, didn’t you, boy?!” He snarled, glaring daggers at the boy below him and only then did his eyes light on the letter in his hands.  “Oh so now we know for sure.  A freak.  Just like your bloody mother.” he added, reaching out as if to snatch the letter from Severus’ hands.

“No!”  Severus took a step back and away from his father, his back colliding with the fence with a creak.  He clung the letter to his chest and stared up at his father with a fire the man wasn’t used to seeing.  “I’ll be a wizard now.”  He snarled back.  “You won’t be able to do this anymore!” He challenged, his hands shaking as he snapped back at the man.   _‘What am I doing??  This is only going to make it worse later!  Shut up, Severus!  Just shut up!’_  Yet still, despite his own thoughts, he stared a challenge into his father’s eyes and refused to back down.  The letter had empowered him, at least for now.

A crack echoed across the yard as his father backhanded him and barked out a laugh.  “Stupid boy.  No better than your mother.” he muttered, turning back to the house and walking inside, still laughing.  

Severus was on his hands and knees, but he still he snatched up his dropped letter and held it to himself.  Tears stung at his eyes and his breathing was shaking, but he didn’t care.  He had stood up to the man, and that letter would mean it would get better.  Soon.  He would learn, and he would put a stop to it all he told himself.  He looked up and saw his mother in the doorway of the house, staring at him with a mixture of fear and relief, clearly glad that though he had been hurt it didn’t seem to be serious.  It was then that Severus let out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding.  He felt relief wash over him as his father walked inside without addressing his mother, and without lashing out at her.  But he also felt relieved because he realized something else… his letter was here.  Soon, he’d be free.

He also decided he wasn’t making breakfast that day.  He kept his letter clutched to his chest and walked straight into the house, but ignored both of his parents as he went straight through it and to the front door.  There was a park not far down the road where he knew he could get some quiet to read his letter, and finally savor the moment.  He didn’t even really hear Tobias’ shouts after him as he left the house and just kept walking.  Some part of him didn’t even think to run, he knew his father would never pursue him into the street, the pain, the anger, all that stayed in the house where no one else could see.  Already he felt as if that letter had emboldened him to realize ways he could be safe, or at least safer for the time being.

He didn’t really feel time pass him by as he walked, soon finding himself beneath a tree on a small grassy hill at the edge of the park where he always felt so safe.  It felt more like home than his own bedroom and there he sat, leaning against the trunk of the tree, and opened his letter.  The writing was so eloquent all he did was stare for several minutes.  Between his fingers the paper felt think and he realized it was actually parchment.  Of course he had seen and felt parchment before but for some reason it felt different this time.  “We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” he read aloud, smiling to himself at the words.  The smile broke into a grin, and he found himself wanting to laugh in the joy of the moment.  “This is freedom, Severus.” he told himself.  “This is how you get away, how you live.”  In quiet moments alone he had always found himself remembering the worst moments of his father striking out at his mother or at himself, but now he found those thoughts and memories washed away.  His mind already trying to picture life at Hogwart’s and of course all he could think about was magic and being able to eat whatever he wanted.  For the first time in his life he felt brave, and he didn’t feel helpless.  As he reveled in his letter and in this moment, he never even realized that at some point things changed and he was no longer alone.

She leaned over him to glance at the letter, looking over a shoulder and smiling, her red hair cascading down and in the way and causing Severus to jump where he sat.  She giggled as he flustered about in frustration and a little color came to his pale and slightly puffy cheeks.  “I thought you said only witches and wizards got those.” she said, clearly teasing Severus as her green eyes sparkled with their own mischief.  The girl was the same age as he, and as always her face was filled with light and a happiness that just infected the boy.

Severus Snape scrambled to his feet, clutching the letter to his chest as if he were afraid someone might take it.  It took him a moment to recognize the face of his closest friend and the smile that slipped to his lips when he saw her.  “Oh… uh yeah, that’s why I got one.” he said, half mumbling, and half chuckling from his nervousness.  The girl before him had somehow always managed to disarm him and bring a light blush to his face, and this time was no exception.

Lily Evans giggled at Severus’ antics, not seeming bothered by it at all but that might have been because she had her own reason to be excited.  Her face was flush with her own happiness and she was practically bouncing up and down on the tips of her toes.  She saw Severus begin to relax as he saw this, curiosity taking over his own nerves in the moment.  She could see he was dying to ask her what was going on, and for a moment she let the silence hang between them before producing what she had hidden behind her back.  “Then why did I get one?” she asked in a slightly higher voice than before, giggling as she grinned at him.

“I knew it!”  Severus loudly proclaimed.  He reached over and touched her letter, not daring to take it from her but still examining that green writing carefully and seeing it was the real deal.  His best friend, the child of two Muggles, had received a Hogwart’s letter.  The two of them would be going to the school together.  He never even noticed that by touching the letter, he was touching her hand.

Lily giggled again and bounced up and down a couple times with the letter held out in front of her still.  It wasn’t until one of her hands released one side of the letter and came to rest over Severus’ that the boy even realized he was touching her.  Naturally, his face suddenly went entirely red though the girl didn’t seem to notice.  “My parents seem to think it’s some kind of prank.” she said, shaking her head.  “I might need help telling them to truth.”

            The boy felt both excitement and dismay simultaneously flood his body.   _‘If her parents don’t believe it… how will she get there?’_  It suddenly occurred to him he had no idea how these things were normally handled.  Would the school send someone to educate her parents on the Wizarding World?  Would it be up to him and his parents?  That last thought made him feel sick and the boy’s pale face went a little green.  _‘It’s going to be hard enough getting mum to take me shopping for supplies… what will we do about dad?’_

            “You think you could come talk to my parents?  Or your mum?”  Lily asked hopefully, and it took Severus a solid five minutes to realize she had suddenly grasped both of his hands in hers and the boy just slowly nodded.  If color hadn’t already drained entirely from his face, it certainly would then as the red-headed girl suddenly moved forward and kissed him on the cheek.  “Oh thank you!  I’ll tell them tea this afternoon, okay?”  She had already turned and begun running back towards home.  “See you soon!”

            Severus stared at the girl’s retreating figure as he tried to understand everything that had just happened, his head still swimming in the events of it all.  His best friend was going to Hogwart’s with him.  He would finally get away from home, from all that was going on there.  But first he had to somehow get his mother to convince his best friend’s parents this was all real and not some kind of elaborate prank.

            “Uh… right… should be… easy?”  He muttered to himself, staring after her as she bounded away, red hair bouncing along behind her.  For several moments he stood and blinked before turning and looking back towards his house.  “I didn’t make breakfast.” he said flatly before groaning to himself.  In his moment of feeling free it hadn’t dawned on him that he still had to go back home at some point, and now he would face the consequences of running out on his parents in his excitement.   _‘I can fix it… maybe…’_ He thought to himself, taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself before starting the trek back home though he made sure to tuck his letter into a pocket as he went.

 


End file.
